The journey toward Super Bowl LII ended far too prematurely for the Pittsburgh Steelers, sending them into offseason mode before we were ready for it. But we are in it now, and are ready to move on, through the Combine, through free agency, through the draft, into OTAs, and beyond.
We have asked and answered a lot of questions over the years and will continue to do so, and at the moment, there seem to be a ton of questions that need answering. A surprise early exit in the postseason will do that to you though, especially when it happens in the way it did.
You can rest assured that we have the questions, and we will be monitoring developments all throughout the offseason process, all the way down to Latrobe. Pending free agents, possible veteran roster cuts, contract extensions, pre-draft visits, pro days, all of it will have its place when the time arises.
Question: Will Coty Sensabaugh survive until the start of the new league year?
We are still about a day and a half or so away before the 2018 league year is officially upon us—which will begin at 4 PM EST tomorrow—and teams are already discussing contracts with free agents during the three-day ‘legal tampering’ period.
Which is why we are seeing a rash of moves being made all around the league, which includes the releasing of some veteran players. Among those reportedly told that they have been released by the Steelers so far are safety Mike Mitchell and cornerback William Gay, though neither transactions have been made official as of this writing.
While Mitchell’s release is largely about the salary cap implications, Gay’s, one might think, is just as much about respect as it is anything else, as he had a comparatively low cap hit, but he does not appear to have a role for the 2018 season behind Artie Burns, Joe Haden, Mike Hilton, and Cameron Sutton.
Considering the fact that it has been rare for the team to even believe that they have four cornerbacks on the same time that they want to get on the field, it is fair to wonder if the other veteran depth cornerback with a decent cap hit, Coty Sensabaugh, will be released as well.
Signed to a two-year contract in free agency a year ago, Sensabaugh played primarily on special teams, but was the first man up after Haden suffered a leg injury. He started a few games but struggled when he did and ultimately was benched.
Sensabaugh even lost some of his special teams assignments to Brian Allen, Sutton, and even Haden, so I’m finding it hard to justify his being on the roster with a cap hit much more than the minimum when he can be no better than the fifth player on the depth chart.
Connecting the dots, it’s easy to wonder how much longer he’ll be on the roster. Since signing him, they drafted Sutton and Allen, signed Haden, and saw Hilton emerge.
